


Honor in Revenge

by AndyAO3



Category: Diablo (Video Game), Diablo III
Genre: Explicit Stuff, Kormac is an adorable idiot, M/M, Smut, and if you know the game's story this fic becomes even more horribly depressing in a way, and the demon hunter thinks he is a bit thick, h/c, like holy shit there's some stuff in their pasts, these characters are really fucked up, wank
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-16
Updated: 2014-05-16
Packaged: 2018-01-25 00:45:49
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,797
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1622921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AndyAO3/pseuds/AndyAO3
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>INDULGENT PORNY ONESHOT.</p><p>Kormac doesn't know quite what to make of his current situation, but he's fairly sure that he's going to be reserved a special place in the Burning Hells for his participation in it.</p><p>EDIT: I have fixed exactly zero things about the text itself, but at least the obnoxious italics everywhere have been removed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Honor in Revenge

**Author's Note:**

> THIS IS A STRAIGHT-UP SELF INDULGENT PWP. You can take it as being canon in the setting of Vengeance and Prophecy, or you can take it as a thing all on its own, I don't care. This was my first ship in Diablo III, though, so I had to write it. HAD TO. 
> 
> I regret nothing.

After the Sin Hearts and that blasted spider-woman were taken care of, Li had stopped the group at the first viable waypoint they reached and made the judgement call that everyone should get some rest before they faced Azmodan. After all, the wizard had noted, Belial had been a hard fight, so it made sense that the Lord of Sin would be just as tough, if not tougher. Kormac had to agree with that assessment, however reluctantly; the demon lord's lieutenants had been terrifyingly powerful, and from what he'd seen of their hierarchy, a demon didn't get to be another demon's superior officer without being able to back that superiority with strength, as well.

It didn't help, either, that Ander looked as if he was about to collapse.

Kormac knew full well that the demon hunter didn't eat enough. Nor did the man ever seem to sleep, at least not while anyone was watching. The closer they got to the heart of the crater, however, the worse it had gotten. Ander stumbled in his gait, and his reaction times were slowing dramatically. More than once, Kormac had been forced to charge into the fray and knock a few of the demons Ander was attacking aside, because the man had simply taken on too much to handle in his weakened state.

So when the wizard suggested that they take a break from demon-slaying and it looked as if Ander was about to protest, Kormac broke the demon hunter's usual well-established unspoken rule of no touching unless absolutely necessary and put a gauntleted hand on the taller man's shoulder to quiet him. Ander startled at the contact, but when he glanced back and saw that it was the templar doing it, he relaxed slightly and, thankfully, said nothing.

Kormac gave the man a grim, stern look through the visor of his helm and nodded his thanks, giving that shoulder a pat before letting his hand fall back to his side. By the Light, he'd never seen Ander so exhausted, even at his worst. There was a profound tiredness in those storm-grey eyes as the hunter stared back, something beyond that of a man who had reached his physical limits. It took a moment for Kormac to realize where he'd seen that look before, but then it came to him: Jondar had worn a similar look towards the end, before he'd surrendered to madness.

That revelation made the hunter's state that much more troubling. True, Ander was a stronger person than Jondar had been, and the reasons were vastly different, but those things didn't make it all that much better. Jondar had been tired of the Order - something which Kormac could not readily blame the man for of late - and Ander just seemed... tired of living, if he were to be completely honest with himself.

Ander had confided in him that he'd lost his family to these fiends, so that was likely part of it. Beyond revenge, the hunter had nothing to fight for that was deeply important to him, and revenge could only sustain a man for so long. He wasn't interested in riches, like that wretched scoundrel, nor did he want glory like their wizard companion, Li. He didn't even have any sort of faith in any higher powers than himself, which Kormac sometimes found a little disturbing even if it was understandable to an extent. Ander's faith had long since been shattered; it was known to happen.

But what was there that Kormac could even do for the hunter? The Templar pondered that question as he stepped through the waypoint, shivering slightly at the sudden shift in temperature from sweltering crater to chilly keep. Underneath his armor he was drenched in sweat, and coming out into the cool main hall of the keep was refreshing, at least right up until the cold cut through the heavy plate and underclothes and straight to his skin.

He was taking off his helmet to get a breath of fresh air for a change just as Eirena came up to inspect them all for injuries, looking worried by their return. The sight of her made him smile for a moment, but he soon caught himself and trained his expression into something less foolish as well as he could.

"Is everything all right? I had not expected you to be back so soon..." she began. That sweet little concerned frown! Akarat's mercy, Kormac just wanted to--

WHAT, NO. My faith is my shield, my faith is my shield...

The scoundrel spoke up first, stretching and popping his shoulders after having set his crossbow down. "Everything's fine, my dear. We're well on our way to taking care of the big bad Lord of Sin in his own chambers," he assured her. "We just thought we might rest up a bit before the big battle so we don't have our collective arses handed to us on a platter."

"Lyndon!" Kormac exclaimed, horrified that the rogue would be so crude in front of a lady.

Lyndon just gave him a look in return. "What, am I not allowed the use of profanity now? Does it offend your delicate sensibilities?"

Kormac was about to round on him, snarling, when he was stopped by the wizard stepping between them; Li had placed a hand firmly on his breastplate and was glaring at him. "That's enough, both of you," the wizard said in a warning tone, giving Lyndon a sharp glance as well. "We are all tired, and we are all on edge."

"I don't know what you're on about. He's the one who looked as if he were considering breaking my jaw," Lyndon said, rolling his eyes.

Li turned his glare on the scoundrel then, and Kormac had to admit to himself that it was quite satisfying to see the damned fool flinch. "And you were goading him by being a child," the wizard reminded Lyndon sternly. "I suggest that we all get some rest tonight, so that we have our wits about us for when we face Azmodan, and so that we aren't all so damned exhausted that we see each other as foes."

Silence reigned after that.

It was only after thinking on it a minute that Kormac realized, after the group had parted ways, that Ander hadn't said a single word during the entire exchange. Hastily, he finished taking off the heavier bits of his armor to hand them to Haedrig along with his shield, and then he strode off in the direction the demon hunter had gone.

He had not been able to stop Jondar's descent into madness, but now that he knew its form, he wasn't about to just let another brother-in-arms succumb to it.

\---

Kormac found the demon hunter just as the man happened to be leaving Leah's room, nearly bumping into him; the templar took it as a bad sign that Ander's guard was down enough for him to actually startle from the suddenness of it, inhaling sharply and tensing for a moment before he realized who it was that had found him.

"...Kormac. What are you doing?" A second later and the hunter managed to make himself look stern and foreboding again, though the edge was taken off by the fact that he looked as if he hadn't slept in a week.

How had Kormac not noticed this earlier? Gods, Ander looked terrible. "Erm, nothing really..." But soon curiosity and conern over Leah won out, and the templar glanced to the sides to make sure no one was listening before lowering his voice to a level that no sneaky thieves could overhear. "...How is she?"

Ander met the question with a pained look, hesitating to answer. "...She will be fine once Azmodan is dead. As will I." It sounded like the hunter was telling himself that as much as anything. Kormac furrowed his brows and shifted his jaw slightly as he considered, and he decided that he didn't like the sound of that statement.

"If nothing else, Li was right about one thing," the templar stated, clapping a hand on the taller man's shoulder again and telling himself to ignore the way Ander winced. "You need to get some rest, Ander. You're no good to Leah or any of us when you're dead on your feet."

Sighing quietly, the hunter looked away from him with a deep frown. "It isn't that simple, Kormac."

"Why isn't it?" Kormac asked immediately. "You've still got limits, even if you're a Nephalem as they all say."

"And I have yet to reach them, so I would appreciate it if you would leave the matter alone," Ander snapped back, shooting him a glare; Kormac could have sworn the man's eyes glowed for a split second, even. Then the demon hunter seemed to realize something and he quickly looked away again, cringing. "...Please," he added, quietly.

That just made Kormac worry even more. "You're not well, Ander. You need sleep, you need food." When no response was forthcoming, the templar sighed heavily and shook his head. "At least tell me what's wrong."

For at least a minute, all was still and quiet aside from the sounds of the kitchens down the hall and the wind whipping around the keep's outer walls. When Ander finally spoke again, his voice was quiet and hoarse. "...I can't sleep," he admitted.

Well, it was a start. Kormac set his free hand on the man's other shoulder then, more gently. "What troubles you, then?"

"Dreams," Ander said. Then after a pause, he added, "--nightmares."

When Kormac had been plagued with doubt, Ander had listened patiently to him. The templar felt it only right that he do the same. "What sorts of nightmares are so terrible as that?" he asked with a slight frown.

The hunter closed his eyes and sighed shakily. "...Fire. Fire and death and hell." After taking a quick, nervous look around to make sure no one was watching, Ander then began to describe his dreams to Kormac in horrific detail.

His family's deaths terrible, bloody deaths, his sister's sobs and screams and madness, and his visions and glimpses into the very depths of the Burning Hells themselves. All in graphically sharp detail, all of it told in the sort of weak, faint tone of voice that Kormac never thought he'd hear from the demon hunter.

It occurred to him then that it was also the sort of tone he never wanted to hear again. There was a wrongness about it, somehow even more offputting than the content of what the man was actually saying. He knew Ander was one of the strongest people he'd met, and accepted it as a fact that if any of them were to snap under the weight of their burdens, the hunter would be the last to do so.

Not the first.

Was Ander even closer to going mad, just as Jondar had, than Kormac had realized? Had he gone mad already, having long since passed the point of no return? Was there anything that the templar could do to fix this anymore?

The demon hunter was trembling when he finished speaking - Kormac could feel it through the grip he had on Ander's shoulders - and he was even more pale than he'd been previously. Kormac's mouth had gone dry at some point during the tale, and he was at a loss as to how to bring any consolation or comfort to the taller man. Ander's grief was so profound that the templar couldn't begin to understand the extent of it, he realized. It probably went even deeper than the man was willing to say, even to Kormac.

Minutes passed and nothing more was said. Kormac began to wonder whether Ander might just fall asleep on his feet. Then, after having not moved all that much or said another word or even really looked at him for a while, Ander surprised the templar by taking a single step forward and just... leaning against him. All of his alarmingly negligible weight was on Kormac, and his face was pressed into the warrior's neck, while long, tired arms wound around Kormac's waist.

He wouldn't have said anything, but... well, that breath on his neck was distressingly intimate. "...Ander?" Kormac swallowed heavily, feeling a subtle heat in his cheeks.

The demon hunter shifted to look at him, the usual bland look softened by exhaustion. Kormac was momentarily held fast by those eyes. He'd never looked at them quite so closely. "...What does your order have to say on the matter of a man laying with another man, Kormac?" Ander asked, in a way that suggested he already knew the answer.

What. "It's... i-it's forbidden. The scriptures say that to do such a thing is an abomination." Did the hunter prefer men? Yet another thing that was probably eating away at him, then. Kormac felt a bit bad for the answer he'd given once he figured that out. "But, erm, I'm certain the gods would understand and grant full pardon for it in your case, with all of the demons that you've slain in the name of the Light," he added quickly, giving Ander a hesitant pat on the back.

Just as Kormac was starting to wonder why Ander was staring at him for that, particularly with that deep frown on his face, the hunter surprised him again. Except the second surprise was a kiss.

Kormac had never experienced a proper kiss on the lips before, and so he was completely unprepared for it. His mind ground to a halt and he froze, unsure of just what in the burning hells he was supposed to do; in the interim, his senses were more than happy to provide him with every smallest detail of what was going on. The hunter's lips were chapped, but they were also soft and warm. He could feel the scratchiness of the man's stubble and the hot breaths that Ander let out through his nose.

It was strange, but not altogether unpleasant. Slowly, Kormac's eyes began to drift shut.

Though, it was then that he suddenly remembered his vows and snapped to attention, jerking back and away from the taller man and sputtering. "Just what in the name of all that is holy do you think you're do--"

Ander shut him up with another kiss, forcing the sentence to end with a mmf. Except the second one made the first seem chaste in comparison. Using both hands to cup Kormac's face and hold him there might've had something to do with it, but the thing that really got to the templar was how Ander was using his tongue. It felt utterly lewd and downright sinful, to the point that Kormac heard himself make a sort of involuntary noise in response.

He brought his hands up to Ander's chest to push him away, but all the poor templar could do was clench his hands in the fabric of the man's tunic. He was starting to feel lightheaded, almost dizzy, and it seemed as if his legs might give out if the hunter continued.

Fortunately, Ander parted from him before his knees could actually buckle, allowing the templar room to properly gasp for air and come back to his senses. Kormac knew that he had to be red as a cherry, because he could feel how badly flushed he was, and his heart was hammering away like mad in his chest. Worse still, his groin ached in a way that he usually only experienced when he was around Eirena for too long.

After a few moments he realized that he was still leaned against the hunter slightly, clutching the man's tunic. With a startled gasp he tore himself away again, in spite of the fact that he was still out of breath, and mustered up enough annoyance to glare angrily at Ander.

Then that anger faltered when the look on the hunter's face gave Kormac a sick sort of guilty feeling, like he'd just kicked a puppy. "...How foolish of me," Ander said quietly, after several seconds of silence. "I apologize if I've broken any of your vows."

Even at the best of times Kormac wasn't one for thinking quickly, especially when he had so much on his mind to consider. It took him a minute to respond. "I take it that you intended to, erm... break a few more then," he said, half-mumbling. The thought was so ridiculous that his mind actually blanked trying to come up with a fitting mental image. Then he mentally scolded himself for trying.

"Only if you consented to it," Ander assured him. Was the demon hunter's voice quiet because he was just that tired, or out of kindness? "I would not force you to lay with me, Kormac."

"But... why me? Of all people, Ander, everyone in this keep, you come to me?" Kormac reached out, more hesitantly than before, and put his hand on the hunter's shoulder. "Surely you knew my vows wouldn't allow for it...?"

Strangely, Ander didn't cringe away from the contact as he usually would. Instead his own hand came up and gently patted the templar's as he let out a quiet sigh. "Because out of the two people I trust in this keep, you're the one who isn't half-delirious from exhaustion after straining to fight back a half dozen demon lords trapped within a single rock."

"...Oh." It occurred to Kormac that, considering he'd found Ander in the same hall that Leah's room was in, he might not have actually been the first choice. His hand fell away from the hunter's shoulder so that he could rub the back of his own neck with it. "I just... I don't, erm. It's just that... erh." He felt his face burning again.

Ander gave him another bland look. "I could kiss you again."

"No!" he exclaimed. Then he blinked and wilted a little from embarassment. If he hadn't been blushing before... "No, eheh... No. No thank you. I am, erh, perfectly capable of coming to a decision. Without being kissed a-again."

After staring at him appraisingly in a way that did nothing for his embarassment, Ander snorted and shook his head. "...Nevermind. If a kiss is taking it too far, then little more will come of it," he said, beginning to turn away.

Kormac wasn't quite sure what actually caused him to step up and take the hunter's arm in a firm grip before the taller man could go. It might've been that his mind was still addled from the kiss, or that he felt so honorbound to help his friend that he was willing to go to extreme and sinful lengths to do so. Maybe he'd even gone a little mad himself in his time away from the Order. He was ashamed of himself for even considering the taller man's proposal, and knew he'd have to say a thousand rosaries worth of prayers to make up for it, but even if he was damned to the Burning Hells for it, he was still most definintely considering it.

Ander froze in his grasp, and the templar just knew he'd gone beet-red by the time the hunter had turned to look at him, openly shocked. "Kormac?"

"I just hadn't done that before, all right?" he blurted, squeezing his eyes shut so he wouldn't have to look at the man; maybe that'd make it easier. "Gods grant me mercy for saying this, but-- I-I just--" his voice was cracking, by the Light this was as difficult as any conversation with Eirena, "--If it helps you to rest a bit easier, then yes, damn it!"

All was silent for several seconds. Kormac opened his eyes to peer tentatively at the hunter and found Ander just staring at him, wide-eyed and slightly flushed. What was Ander embarassed for? He'd been the one doing the propositioning!

"B-but just this once, you understand," he added quickly with a slight huff, trying desperately to not think about how many vows he was willingly breaking.

\---

The Order told its members that they were forbidden from experiencing the pleasures of the flesh, in any form. Even pleasuring one's self was considered a crime. Unlike templars, Kormac had been fiercely dedicated to keeping himself pure, and was one of the first to judge his brothers harshly should they stray from the path of righteousness. The Light's goodness and purity were all one might need to sustain themselves, and those who gave in to temptation only damned themselves.

Therefore, Kormac was definitely guranteeing himself a place in the Burning Hells for what he was about to do.

After Ander had finished blushing and collected himself, he made a motion that Kormac should be quiet and gestured for the templar to follow him, before setting off down through the keep's winding passages and halls to search for a place that was both liberated from the demons and private. Kormac kept his head down the entire way, but it didn't seem that either of them was spotted; by the time they got to the more sparsely-populated bits of the keep, the templar even allowed himself to relax a little.

Then, once they'd been walking for what seemed like ages, Ander suddenly stopped to duck into a room, yank Kormac in with him by the arm and shut the door firmly behind them, coming just short of slamming it. Soon enough after that he was kissing the templar again, taking advantage of Kormac's startled vocalisation to fully capture his mouth.

The warrior was surprised and a little bit distressed to then learn that Ander was getting better at it with practice. Before long Ander had pulled a needy moan out of him from somewhere in his throat, and he was starting to feel weak in the knees again just from the actions of the hunter's lips and teeth and tongue. He never would have guessed up to that point that his mouth could be so easily exploited, and that a simple kiss could leave him so vulnerable.

Moments later Ander pulled away with a parting nibble on his lower lip; Kormac struggled to catch his breath in the meanwhile. "...How... do you do that..." he panted, distantly aware of having grabbed the hunter's tunic again.

Ander chuckled. It was a low sound that the templar wasn't used to hearing, warm and rumbling. "By remembering to breathe through my nose," he answered. Even in the dim light, those grey eyes glinted as far-off lightning in the night would. Dangerous and fascinating all at once. As he lifted an eyebrow, it seemed that Ander had caught the templar looking; he smirked faintly, in a way that honestly worried Kormac a little. It was a bit like that smirk he'd get in battle sometimes, when he was blowing things to pieces.

Without giving the templar time to wonder what that might mean, Ander backed him into a wall - making him grunt slightly as he hit the not-quite-flat stonework a bit harder than was probably necessary - and ground against him, and the decidedly new sensation made Kormac's mind go absolutely blank for a moment. He tilted his head back and let out a long, low moan, grinding back against the hunter mindlessly. The ache in his nether regions had suddenly become a hundred times more insistent and he had no idea what to do about it.

At that point, though, he realized when his leg brushed against something hard and the demon hunter choked back a gasp in response that he wasn't the only one affected. Ander rocked against him then, ducking his head to bite down on Kormac's shirt and keep the next sound he made from going beyond a whimper. The templar wasn't quite sure what to make of that, but something about it went right to his groin.

Maybe his head couldn't figure out what to do or what it wanted, but his body certainly had - and it had something to do with the demon hunter pressed against him. Honestly, Kormac blamed all the kissing; if it hadn't been for that, the templar would never have allowed anything to progress beyond being propositioned.

...Right?

He wasn't able to come up with an answer for himself, as he wasn't given time to weigh the options properly before Ander was doing more of that blasted kissing. Being snogged - as Lyndon would so crudely call it - served as enough of a distraction for him to only distantly recognize that his trousers were being undone, until fingers that were rough from callouses took his member in a firm grip that nearly had him buckling under his own weight. A sound that he didn't recognize came from his own throat, muffled by the hunter's mouth; he wasn't sure whether he was thankful for that bit.

After that, all Kormac could do was cling to Ander helplessly as the taller man stroked him, breaking the kiss for the sake of gasping and panting breathlessly because the earlier advice had proven itself inadequate within the space of a few seconds. His head tipped back again and he squeezed his eyes shut against the mounting sensations, losing the will to care about holding his voice back. Somewhere in the back of his mind, a stray thought reminded him of how sinful this was, but he couldn't be bothered to pay attention. It was too much, Ander was too good, and he'd been living in celibacy for too long.

Kormac hadn't had a proper, voluntary orgasm since before he'd joined the Order; he'd forgotten what it was like. His back arched, his toes curled in his boots, and his hands white-knuckled against Ander's tunic to the point of tearing it slightly at its seams. Years of having restrained himself only made his release that much more intense, and inexperience just left him that much more defenseless against it. He thought for a moment that he might black out, but he didn't. Then he forgot how to think at all.

When he came back to his senses, he found himself sagged heavily against the demon hunter, trying to remember how breathing worked and shivering. He lifted his head to glance at the taller man and saw that he was being stared at openly; unwilling to take the time to puzzle out what the look in the man's eyes might mean, he just leaned his forehead against the man's chest again and went back to trying to collect himself.

He was sweaty, he was exhausted, and he felt more sticky and filthy than he ever had while fighting. And yet he felt impossibly satisfied as well as bit relieved, and he was sure he wouldn't like the implications of that when he took the time to think about them later.

"That was fast," Ander noted after a while, sounding... amused? Disappointed? Kormac couldn't tell.

"Sorry," the templar replied a little hoarsely. It was more reflex than anything; something in the hunter's tone told him that he should apologize. After giving it a moment's thought he figured that Ander was probably disappointed because he hadn't had a similarly fulfilling experience. He quietly hoped he wouldn't be expected to do something about that, even though he knew such a thought was rather selfish. It was unlikely that anything he was capable of doing would compare to that.

For a moment, the hunter just continued to stare. Then the taller man sighed, shook his head and drew away, turning towards the room's one bed and leaving Kormac to catch his breath. He couldn't help but feel vaguely guilty at that, as the numerous reasons why he had agreed to it all came back to him.

Well, what was he supposed to do? Pile even more sins, more terrible and tempting acts of soul-blackening debauchery, upon the one he'd just committed? Wasn't it enough that he'd consented to do as much as he already had?

Ander sat down on the bed and began taking off his boots. But when he glanced up at Kormac his brow furrowed, before he settled into his usual bland look. "Are you coming?"

Kormac blinked back at him. "O-oh, erm." ...Damn it. He was surely going to hell for all of this. "O-of course. Right."

He almost stumbled on the way to join the other man on the bed.

\---

Eventually, Kormac did end up helping the demon hunter find some relief as well, even though it didn't seem nearly as impressive. The templar was intimately aware of how awkward and clumsy he was with his hands, and how his inexperienced kiss made Ander chuckle faintly. There was nothing that he wasn't self-conscious about, and had the man said even a single teasing word, Kormac probably would have stopped then and there. Thankfully though, Ander had some tact.

It was probably a good thing that the hunter had suggested they take off their clothes before starting again, because if they hadn't, they wouldn't have had the energy to do so afterward. Or at least Ander wouldn't have. The demon hunter had fallen asleep against him barely a couple of minutes after they'd finished, and it had been a challenge for Kormac to get the scratchy, worn blankets over the both of them without jostling him too much. Taking one of the more remote rooms in the keep had its advantages as far as not being heard, but Kormac could do without the chill.

How long had Ander gone without a good night's sleep? The warrior found himself pondering that, and not for the first time, as he watched the gentle rise and fall of the other man's chest. Out of all of them, with the exception of Leah, it was probably Ander who did the most work and had the most right to some rest. And yet he barely ate or slept at all. If Kormac didn't know what drove the man, he might call the demon hunter completely mad.

But actually knowing what the driving force behind Ander's determination was just made the templar feel a bit sick inside. That anyone should have to go through what the hunter had was... unthinkable.

Yes, he respected that Ander was putting his anger and hatred to use. Of course he knew how strong the hunter was for facing his fear and loss and grief head-on. Who wouldn't? But he also understood that Ander was human, and that humans have limits. After thinking on it, he'd decided that Ander probably knew that much as well, somewhere deep down. Why else would the demon hunter have gone as far as propositioning Kormac of all people, just for the sake of some relief?

Kormac frowned deeply. He hadn't even been Ander's first choice. Leah was loved by all of them, but Ander... he would smile for her. Laugh, even. It was no wonder he'd gone to her; perhaps he'd wanted to alleviate a little of her burden, as well, and stopped himself when he'd seen what state she was in. Maybe he even loved her enough that he didn't want to hurt her by using her. Anything was possible, and Kormac would certainly approve of Ander getting to have her more than he would that damned scoundrel.

He felt Ander stirring in his sleep, and shifted to better accomodate the hunter. The keep's beds weren't made for people nearing two meters tall, and to be honest, they probably weren't made for more than one person at a time either. It was a bit of a squeeze, but at least the taller man was sleeping, curled up against Kormac's side.

Except he wasn't sleeping peacefully; as Ander made a faint noise and turned over in his sleep with a slight shiver, it hit the templar that it wasn't the cold northern air that was causing the man's distress. Kormac's frown returned and he rolled to face the hunter, resting a hand on his shoulder.

"Ander?" he asked quietly.

The demon hunter mumbled unintelligibly - the only thing that sounded like a word was no - and shook his head, curling up tighter into a defensive ball. He was still shivering, even though his tossing and turning had gained him a fair amount of extra blanket to be tangled up in, and before long he'd broken out in a cold sweat.

Thoroughly worried by that point, Kormac sat up and gave the hunter's shoulder a squeeze. "Ander, it's only a dream." When that didn't work, he jostled the man slightly.

Kormac expected the hunter to be a little startled. He wasn't expecting to be forced back down onto the bed so swiftly that the wind was knocked out of him.

Ander's eyes were glowing an inhuman gold, and the surprisingly, terrifyingly strong hands gripping Kormac's neck seethed faintly with a blackish-red energy. He was panting like he'd just sprinted several miles, and his messy black hair was stuck to his sweat-slicked brow.

It was probably a good thing that Kormac was with him, after all. Anyone else probably would have panicked and made it worse, or simply not been strong enough to pull Ander's hands from their neck. Kormac, however, was able to do just that, with a bit of effort. More importantly, he was able to stay calm.

"It's only me," he said gently, after having taken Ander's wrists to prevent further attempts at strangling. "There are no demons here, Ander. You made sure of that, remember?"

Slowly, the glow in the hunter's eyes began to subside, as did the strange new energy. In their wake, Ander wore a terrified expression that bordered on being half-mad. Trembling slightly, he slumped against Kormac as he came back to himself.

The templar let go of Ander's hands in favor of putting his arms around the taller man, one hand petting the hunter's soft hair. "It's all right, Ander. You're safe." Kormac had the inexplicable urge to kiss the demon hunter, but he pushed it to the back of his mind after deeming it corrupt.

Ander balled his hands into fists against Kormac's broad chest and shuddered. "I could have killed you," he rasped.

"But you didn't." Akarat's mercy, how long had Ander been in this state? He hugged the hunter a little tighter, but he wasn't certain which of them the gesture was meant to be for. "I'll see to it you're safe, don't worry."

Shaking his head, the hunter let out a steadying breath. "I shouldn't have asked this of you."

Kormac bit the inside of his lip to keep from answering. He was afraid that if he were to do so, and say precisely what he was thinking at that moment, the next words out of his mouth might damn him to hell for the rest of time.

 

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> From here, it doesn't get better for either of them.
> 
> Azmodan dies, everyone breathes a sigh of relief. Then Adria betrays everyone and kills Leah, setting Diablo free in the meantime. Then, well, y'all know most of the rest. 
> 
> WELP.


End file.
